I dunno. Maybe this is just another phase in my blogging evolution but lately I’ve been inredibly tempted to … End the way I blog.
Not to stop blogging, because I’m not sure I ever could, but certainly to change it.
One of the questions I ask myself is “am I actually contributing anything” to this thing we call the blogosphere? Code samples? Nope. Applications? None. Really good articles and original content? Laughably, no.
So what’s the point? Sure, personal publishing is, by definition personal but that isn’t enough for me.
I’ve been a writer for the last decade. Press releases, articles, book contributions, MSDN pieces, white papers, reports… I’ve done just about everything a writer can do besides publishing a book on poetry (which I’ve considered…).
Over the last week I’ve come to enjoy blogging less, enjoyed the exposure less and really wanted to get back to playing around with this thing we call the Internet more. Or not. I’m also dissillusioned with IT in general.
When half my energy in any given discussion with another IT person is spent defending something that I have no stake in… I have to wonder what the point of it all is. Has IT changed the world? Sure. For the better? Ehhh…
Oh, and, no, the solution isn’t to just take a break from blogging, so please don’t offer that with the best of intentions. This is bigger, deeper, wider.
After a decade online, I feel like I haven’t really improved anyone’s life, and my life certainly hasn’t been improved. I still basically live at the low end of the spectrum, still don’t make much and still feel largely unsatisfied. And while blogging won’t change that, it hasn’t really helped much either.
I still don’t believe I’ll ever stop blogging, but maybe I’ll really only do it for me from now on, closing it off to the public.
Or not. Maybe someone can shed some perspective for me. Of the 2000 people that visit here every day, everytime I’ve had a personal crisis several have stepped up to give me perspective. I appreciate it, and I’m asking for a bit once again, if you have some left over.
Thanks.
March 22nd, 2004 at 2:57 pm
Don’t go. No, really, we need you.
March 22nd, 2004 at 3:52 pm
Perhaps it is time to do like in reality TV and churn out some recap episodes?
“Code samples? Nope. Applications? None. Really good articles and original content? Laughably, no.”
Ok, so do it! Cut back on the blogging and write some good articles and original content. I personally get a lot of satisfaction from the thankyou emails I get from readers of my articles and samplecode. Maybe that is why I blog very irregularly: I am always too busy writing articles and samplecode.
Another thing about the samplecode and articles thing is it can give you satisfaction in spite of work. While I may not get to exercise certain skills at work, I keep them honed with my writing.
Of course, if you want to do technical writing or samplecode I have a home for what you write.
March 22nd, 2004 at 5:30 pm
Can’t offer you any perspective, but I can tell you this. I really enjoy reading your blog. It is actually one of the few blogs I actually look forward to reading through.
Though you may not contribute anything (which I don’t think so actually), but you’re definitely worth reading! I really see your blog as a ‘peek’ in the whole IT/tech world, and for me, that’s really interesting. So no, you shouldn’t stop blogging. In fact, I’d rather see you blog more
(If you want to write technical articles/code samples on ASP.NET (or PHP), I could definitely need you!)
March 22nd, 2004 at 7:09 pm
A blogging friend of mine told me that he might cut back to one or two postings a week so that he would have time to do the research necessary to put together a long article. Since his blogging is for his own pleasure – not work – I told him that this makes a lot of sense. I suggest that you do the same – whatever you feel like doing. That doesn’t mean that your blog is not contributing anything. I’ve only known of you for a week or two and have really enjoyed the contact.
March 22nd, 2004 at 7:26 pm
I too have toyed with changing my blog to the “magazine” format (1-2 articles per week, but in more depth than the average blog post). I would do it, but once you start blogging it’s hard to stop.
Jeremy: I can’t help but feel like I’m in the same boat as you. I like Web design and all, but as an industry I feel like IT is getting less relevant by the hour. I’m not really sure what industry would be better to switch into though; I get a good personal feeling in this line of work but feel like my career isn’t as rewarding as it could be. Maybe I should just try working for a different type of company than the ones I’ve worked for previously.
March 22nd, 2004 at 9:09 pm
I don’t have much to say that can help, just a word of support.
I enjoy reading your weblog because it gives me a view into the Microsoft-dominated IT world that I have less and less of a connection with now that I’m doing Web projects at home, and i find it quite entertaining.
Of course, you should be doing this for *you*, and if it doesn’t work, quit. Or maybe move to a more group-blog system and let a few other people contribute perspectives.
March 22nd, 2004 at 9:38 pm
Jeremy, whatever you decide to do, remember that you are among friends will support you. If you decide to take the dreaded “break”, do it. If your choose to write fewer but more indepth articles, do it. It’s your blog and it’s your decision to make. I’ll support your choice, as will all of your other friends.
March 22nd, 2004 at 11:24 pm
If you only did long articles, I would seriously stop reading!
Just kidding.
I enjoy the lighter, personal, funnier, short messages more than anything else.
Whatever you want to do, do it.
I’ll still visit.
March 22nd, 2004 at 11:28 pm
Hey! I know exactly how you feel. I just started my own web design business, but have learned that as the owner, I’m somewhat far away from what I love to do (web design). Sure I can do a project here and there, but it’s not enough for me.
I started my blog only a few weeks ago. I have two on the same site. A personal blog that sports all of my garbage, whether it be tech related or not, and the other, which fills my index page, is for my articles which I write once a week. They aren’t deeply involved, but they focus on some of the things I feel the most strongly about in web design. Additionally, I’m working on a series of tutorials that are going to play with some of the more advanced techniques in CSS. I like this because it allows me to be creative in three different areas. Articles, Tutorials, and then my own garbage. I type fast and my personal blog isn’t really focused on anything. That’s for me. The other stuff gives me a reason to bother messing with a personal website.
I think that your comment about IT not enriching your life is a load of crap. Without it you wouldn’t be here in this community that YOU’VE created reading the advice of people whom you’ve probably never seen in your life nor would have had the faintest hope of meeting if you weren’t here now.
The real question for you is:
Where am I now? and… Where do I want to go from here?
Hope this helps. Your blog ROCKS!
March 23rd, 2004 at 5:14 am
Jeremy, I’m shocked. In my short blogger life, your encouragement has been very important to me. Unsolicited supportive emails are valuable indeed! You seemed to be one of the great blog advocates and pioneers.
I’ve only been blogging a month or so and I’ve been kind of obsessed of recent weeks but already I can see that I’m going to have to work out how I fit blogging into a balanced lifestyle.
I’m also going through a mini-slump myself – with the article I worked on for over a month appearing on Saturday what next? And thanks for the positive feedback on that too. I sort of feel well I’ve done blogging shouldn’t I find something else new to focus on. Or go back to my library with all those treasured volumes.
One of the great things about blogging is to have some contact with people like yourself.
But I do think one of the limitations on blogging is what’s in it for minor leaguers over the long-term. It’s great to get up to speed and to feel the thrill of it all. But if you’re not A-list and getting all the publicity and the major league hit rankings, well why bother.
We all need to find something, some level of involvement that is comfortable and sustainable. I like blogging but it doesn’t pay the rent and really I’ve got to do it because it’s fun and I have to find a way to keep the fun in it. Or why not sit on the porch and have a beer?
The core seems to me to avoid the competition thing. For an alternate media the blogosphere is very very competitive, everything is set up to be intensely competitive. Who links with who, who ranks high. It looks to me like hyper-competition – a minute by minute rat race and crap who wants to be part of that.
It can be very seductive. last week Scoble said I was a cool blogger and my hit rate went up ten fold that day and dropped right back to where it had been the next day. It felt like 15 minutes of fame and it felt weird.
Take a break, whatever, but please don’t go altogether – the blogoshere will be poorer without you.
I still reckon we can work out a blog world that’s fun for the little guy and not just the street rat race on heat.
March 23rd, 2004 at 1:42 pm
Trevor: “But I do think one of the limitations on blogging is what’s in it for minor leaguers over the long-term. It’s great to get up to speed and to feel the thrill of it all. But if you’re not A-list and getting all the publicity and the major league hit rankings, well why bother.”
Ryan: There are more reasons to blog than being on the A-list. To communicate with each other, whether by sitting around a campfire sharing ghost stories or posting updates to a technology blog, is a basic human need. People crete blogs for as many different reasons: to educate, to prosyletize, to make people laugh, to have their own personal bull-horn/soap-box/publishing empire. Not all of these people expect to, or even want, to be among the bloggerati. Yes, you can buy into that scene if you want to (and top 100 blog lists are only adding to the problem), but you can also choose not to.
March 23rd, 2004 at 9:13 pm
If you’re not getting the ROI you need (the ‘I’ in this case being your time), then perhaps it IS time to change your style. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve seen you reinvent yourself. :p
April 3rd, 2004 at 1:24 pm
Blogging about Blogging
There seems to be a lot of blogging about blogging lately. Ripple writes about blogging for a long time. Jeremy is not sure he wants to keep blogging. BloggerCon is coming up and that is generating lots of talk. People don’t like that they aren’t on th…